You Ready For This?

The great part about the new year is it is new and fresh. A great opportunity to start over. Resolutions to stop eating bad. Resolutions to start working out. Resolutions to stick to my budget. Resolutions and goals galore.

The issue with the new year is I am still the same person on January 1st that I was on December 31st. I do not magically lose the baggage of the life I lived before January because the clock rolled over another year.

But the more I make decisions today to make changes and improvements. The more today I start sticking to my budget, eating right, and working out. The easier it will be come January to keep doing those same things.

Come January, it will not be any easier to start the good decisions and stop the bad decisions. I will have the comfort of knowing I am not alone as I ignore my resolutions. And we all know misery loves company and when will I ever have more company than for New Year’s Resolutions?

I would sure like to finish 2017 strong rather than give up because I did not live out the year perfectly.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions going to be? What is stopping you from sticking to them now? What excuses or lies are you telling yourself to keep yourself from succeeding at the goals you are not starting? Who can walk with you for the resolutions you want to start next year, but today?

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Cranking Away

Given all of the changes and upcoming changes in my life. I am looking at a lot of turbulent times as far as my regular schedule goes. My schedule is actually becoming much more dynamic than it has been. Between my work schedule being variable and then you add a baby into the mix. I hear these babies like schedules but take some time to get into a rhythm and the amount of time it takes is relatively indeterminate.

Knowing these changes are not controllable, I have to pay attention to my priorities. I have to pay attention to the importance of my marriage, my health choices, and relationship choices. It is going to take discipline to maintain some semblance of sanity while I am in the midst of having my world rocked and yet trying to maintain these priorities.

As a matter-of-fact, I believe it is going to take me focusing on discipline to make sure I do not let myself give up my priorities in the midst of the change. All the change is going to test my resolve to whether or not I actually do prioritize these things or if I have only been giving them lip service while things are easy.

What other way do I have to prove how important these things are than when they are tested in the midst of the fire?

What do you prioritize? When was the last time your priorities were tested? Did the testing show your actual priorities to line up with your stated priorities? What needs to change?

Priortizing,

–JT

Discipline

Discipline is an amazing part of our human capacity to push forward and succeed. It requires so many parts of my personality and the more I do it, the better I get at it. Much like a muscle, the more I work it the stronger and more sustainable it is. I love the feeling of accomplishing my goals as I bring together my ability to be disciplined. 

I love seeing how I have to use my ability to be diligent in order to be disciplined. I have to keep watching my work to make sure I am producing quality work. I have to keep a watchful eye on my tasks in order to make sure I am addressing my most difficult tasks. For me, diligence is the portion of discipline making me stay on top of what I am doing.

Discipline requires me to set goals. It does not let me be disciplined for the sake of disciplined. It requires enough foresight to know I am headed somewhere. I cannot sit alone in a room by myself and say I am being disciplined unless I am trying to develop the skill of sitting alone in a room.

Most of all, discipline requires me to push myself farther than I have been before. 

Discipline means I am pushing into an area of discomfort. 

Discipline breeds more discipline for me.

Where in your life are you pushing yourself beyond where you have been before?

Disciplined,

–JT